Vase

The vase was made in a maiolica manufactory in Nieborów. The factory called the 'Manufactory of Artistic Faience and Tile Stoves' was founded by Prince Michał Piotr Radziwiłł in 1881, on the premises of his residence. The factory director was Stanislaw Thiele, an experienced ceramic artist who had previously worked at the faience factory in Nevers, France. The manufactory in Nieborów produced a variety of decorative and utilitarian items: vases, jugs, cache-pôt pots, jardinieres, wall-hanging plates, toiletries, hanging lamps, wall tiles; it specialised in cooker tiles. The eclectic ceramics is in line with historicising trends in European ceramics of the second half of the 19th century. The forms and ornamentation were based on Italian and French maiolica and Dutch faience. The old-style forms were often combined with painting decorations on Polish themes. These were landscapes, views of famous localities, illustrations of Polish legends, images of kings and national heroes. The manufactory's prosperity period lasted until 1886, the collapse of production took place around 1889. In the collection of the Castle Museum in Łańcut, there is a set of eleven decorative maiolica, such as vases, jardiniers, cache-pôt (see B. Trojnar, Majolika w zbiorach Muzeum-Zamku w Łańcucie. Katalog Maiolica in the Collection of the Castle Museum in Łańcut. The Catalogue, Łańcut 1988). The above vase is slender, with a pear-shaped body passing into a neck with a turned-up lip, on a foot and a round, high foot. The handles are in the shape of double, twisted snakes. Decoration is yellow, brown, green, blue, rusty, black (contours) on white background. On the belly there are depictions of mythological figures. On the one hand, Jupiter as a bearded old man in a flowing robe is driving a chariot drawn by a pair of eagles. He holds a thunderbolt in his raised right hand. On the other side of the belly, Saturn is similarly represented and his chariot is drawn by a pair of winged serpents. Barbara Trojnar